Influence of spin-orbit interaction of two-dimensional electrons on the magnetization of nanotubes

Calculations are made of the magnetization of a nanotube in a longitudinal magnetic field. It is shown that the spin-orbit interaction of two-dimensional electrons located at the surface of the nanotube causes a qualitative change in the magnetization. Depending on the parameters of the system, either diamagnetism or paramagnetism can occur and the dynamic susceptibility is characterized by anomalous dispersion at low frequencies. Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 115, 1478–1483 (April 1999)     

Effect of the spin-orbit interaction on the cyclotron resonance of two-dimensional electrons

In the cyclotron resonance (CR) spectra of two-dimensional (2D) electrons in InAs quantum wells, the CR line splitting is observed. The splitting is found to be an oscillating function of magnetic field. The oscillations do not correlate with the filling factor. The experimental results are interpreted in terms of the spin-orbit splitting in the presence of a built-in electric field appearing due to the asymmetry of the quantum-well potential. From the splitting of the CR line, the spin-orbit coupling constant α_so is determined. The resulting value agrees well with the value obtained for the same sample from the Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations. The role of the resonance interaction of charge carriers in the well with the interface donor states is discussed.     

Hopping transport in two-dimensional systems with spin-orbit interaction in external magnetic field

The theory of spin rotation waves (SRWs), representing excitations of a new type arising in twodimensional systems with spin-orbit interaction in an external electric field, has been developed. These intrinsic modes correspond to rotation of the magnetic moment vector in the plane formed by the electric field vector and the normal to the sample plate surface. An experimental method is proposed for detecting SRWs by measuring the frequency dependence of the magnetic susceptibility, which exhibits a resonance at the intrinsic mode frequency. A particular calculation is performed for a hopping conductivity model (for small-size polarons), but it is likely that intrinsic oscillations of the SRW type also take place for the band transport, since their appearance is related to the symmetry of the system.     

Kinetics of two-dimensional electrons on a curved surface

A number of effects associated with the curvature of the surface on which a two-dimensional (2D) electron gas is placed are studied. The most significant effect in an external magnetic field (which for 2D electrons becomes effectively nonuniform) is the lifting of the degeneracy of the Landau levels. The intensity and shape of the cyclotron resonance line (inhomogeneously broadened) for different polarizations and the corrections to the Hall constant are found for the example of a circular cylinder. A picture of the quantization of the conductance that is qualitatively different from the case of a flat strip is obtained for a quasi-one-dimensional quantum wire in the form of a hollow cylinder. It is shown that in contradistinction to the planar case the spectrum of 2D electrons on the curved surface is sensitive to the sign of the spin-orbit coupling constant (for a fixed sign of the curvature). For hetero-junctions, for example, this opens up new possibilities for extracting information about their “hidden parameters.” Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 64, No. 6, 421–426 (25 September 1996)     

Magnetic bloch states and carrier transport in two-dimensional semiconductor lattice structures with spin-orbit interaction

Quantization rules have been obtained for the Hall conductance of fully occupied Landau subbands of the two-dimensional electron gas with the Dresselhaus spin-orbit interaction in a periodic electrostatic field of a superlattice and a transverse magnetic field. The spin-orbit interaction mixes states of different magnetic subbands and changes the quantization rule for the Hall conductance compared to spinless particles. The calculations have been performed for the two-dimensional electrons in the structures with both a weak (AlGaAs/GaAs) and sufficiently strong (GaAs/In_0.23Ga_0.77As) spin-orbit interaction and Zeeman splitting. It has been found that the distribution of the Hall conductance among the magnetic subbands depends on the geometric parameters of the superlattices and promptly changes upon the touching of the adjacent subbands in the spectrum. The quantization rule for the Hall conductance in real semiconductor structures with relatively strong spin-orbit interaction has been shown to differ from that calculated by Thouless et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 49, 405 (1982)] for the systems without the spin-orbit interaction and Zeeman effect.     

Magnetic bloch states and carrier transport in two-dimensional semiconductor lattice structures with spin-orbit interaction

JETP Letters - Quantization rules have been obtained for the Hall conductance of fully occupied Landau subbands of the two-dimensional electron gas with the Dresselhaus spin-orbit interaction in a...     

Optical conductivity of a two-dimensional electron liquid with spin-orbit interaction

The interplay of electron-electron interactions and spin-orbit coupling leads to a new contribution to the homogeneous optical conductivity of the electron liquid. The latter is known to be insensitive to many-body effects for a conventional electron system with parabolic dispersion. The parabolic spectrum has its origin in the Galilean invariance which is broken by spin-orbit coupling. This opens up a possibility for the optical conductivity to probe electron-electron interactions. We analyze the interplay of interactions and spin-orbit coupling and obtain optical conductivity beyond RPA.     

Rashba spin-orbit interaction and shot noise for spin-polarized and entangled electrons

We study shot noise for spin-polarized currents and entangled electron pairs in a four-probe (beam-splitter) geometry with a local Rashba spin-orbit (s-o) interaction in the incoming leads. Within the scattering formalism we find that shot noise exhibits Rashba-induced oscillations with continuous bunching and antibunching. We show that entangled states and triplet states can be identified via their Rashba phase in noise measurements. For two-channel leads, we find an additional spin rotation due to s-o induced interband coupling which enhances spin control. We show that the s-o interaction deter-mines the Fano factor, which provides a direct way to measure the Rashba coupling constant via noise.     

Electron-dephasing time in a two-dimensional spin-polarized system with Rashba spin-orbit interaction

We calculate the dephasing time tau(phi)(B) of an electron in a two-dimensional system with a Rashba spin-orbit interaction, spin-polarized by an arbitrarily large magnetic field parallel to the layer. tau(phi)(B) is estimated from the logarithmic corrections to the conductivity within a perturbative approach that assumes weak, isotropic disorder scattering. For any value of the magnetic field, the dephasing rate changes with respect to its unpolarized-state value by a universal function whose parameter is 2E(Z)/E(SOI) (E(Z) is the Zeeman energy, while E(SOI) is the spin-orbit interaction), confirming the experimental report published in Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 186805 (2005). In the high-field limit, when 2E(Z) > E(SOI), the dephasing rate saturates and reaches asymptotically to a value equal to half the spin-relaxation rate.     

Two-dimensional transport and strong spin-orbit interaction in SrMnSb_2

We have carried out magneto-transport measurements for single crystal SrMnSb_2. Clear Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations were resolved at relatively low magnetic field around 4 T, revealing a quasi-2D Fermi surface. We observed a development of quantized plateaus in Hall resistance(R_(xy)) at high pulsed fields up to 60 T. Due to the strong 2D confinement and layered properties of the samples, we interpreted the observation as bulk quantum Hall effect that is contributed by the parallel 2D conduction channels. Moreover, the spin degeneracy was lifted leading to Landau level splitting. The presence of anisotropic g factor and the formation of the oscillation beating pattern reveal a strong spin-orbit interaction in the SrMnSb_2 system.     

Spin and charge transport in the presence of spin-orbit interaction

We present the study of spin and charge transport in nanostructures in the presence of spin-orbit (SO) interaction. Single band tight binding Hamiltonians for Elliot-Yafet and Rashba SO interaction are derived. Using these tight binding Hamiltonians and spin resolved Landauer-Büttiker formula, spin and charge transport is studied. Specifically numerical results are presented for a new method to perform magnetic scanning tunneling microscopy with non-magnetic tip but in the presence of Elliot-Yafet SO interaction. The spin relaxation phenomena in two-dimensional electron gas in the presence of Rashba SO interaction are studied and contrary to naive expectation, it is shown that disorder helps to reduce spin relaxation.     

Magnetotransport properties of a magnetically modulated two-dimensional electron gas with the spin-orbit interaction

We study the electrical transport properties of a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) with the Rashba spin-orbit interaction in the presence of a constant perpendicular magnetic field (B(0)( ?z) which is weakly modulated by B1 = B1 cos(qx) ?z, where B(1) ? B(0) and q = 2π/a with a the modulation period. We obtain the analytical expressions of the diffusive conductivities for spin-up and spin-down electrons. The conductivities for spin-up and spin-down electrons oscillate with different frequencies and produce beating patterns in the amplitude of the Weiss and Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations. We show that the Rashba strength can be determined by analyzing the beating pattern in the Weiss oscillation. We find a simple equation which determines the Rashba spin-orbit interaction strength if the number of Weiss oscillations between any two successive nodes is known from the experiment. We compare our results with the electrically modulated 2DEG with the Rashba interaction. For completeness, we also study the beating pattern formation in the collisional and the Hall conductivities.     

Magnetoplasma oscillations of a two-dimensional electron system with spin-orbit interaction in a lateral superlattice

Low-frequency magnetoplasmon modes in a one-dimensional lateral superlattice with Rashba spin-orbit splitting are considered. Such modes correspond to oscillations related to virtual transitions within a Landau level that become possible due to the broadening of each Landau level into a band produced by the superlattice potential. The specificity of the one-dimensional intersubband plasmons emerging in such a system has been revealed.     

Hot electrons in silicon dioxide: Ballistic to steady-state transport

Hot electron transport in silicon dioxide is examined with emphasis on current experimental and theoretical results. For oxide layers thicker than 100 Å, steady-state transport has been shown to control the carrier flow at all fields studied. The transition from a nearly thermal electron distribution at electric fields less than approximately 1.5 MV/cm to significantly hot distributions with average energies between 2 and 6 eV at higher fields of up to 16 MV/cm is discussed. The significance of nonpolar phonon scattering in controlling the dispersive transport at higher electric fields, thereby preventing runaway and avalanche breakdown, is reviewed. The transition from ballistic to steady-state transport on very thin oxides layers of less than 100 Å in thickness and the observation of single phonon scattering events are also discussed.     

Effect of spin-orbit interaction on a magnetic impurity in the vicinity of a surface

We propose a new mechanism for surface-induced magnetic anisotropy to explain the thickness dependence of the Kondo resistivity of thin films of dilute magnetic alloys. The surface anisotropy energy, generated by spin-orbit coupling on the magnetic impurity itself, is an oscillating function of the distance d from the surface and decays as 1/d2. Numerical estimates based on simple models suggest that this mechanism, unlike its alternatives, gives rise to an effect of the desired order of magnitude.     

Escape rate of two-dimensional electrons on liquid helium surface

Escape rate of two-dimensional electrons on liquid helium surface is measured. A strong dependence of the escape rate on the surface electron density suggests that the surface electron system is in a “liquid” state.     

Edge spin currents in two-dimensional electron gas with spin-orbit interaction

Edge spin currents existing in two-dimensional electron gas near the boundary between the regions with spin-orbit interaction and without it are st udied for nonequilibrium conditions due to an electron current flowing parallel or normal to the boundary. The parallel current generates an edge spin density, whereas the normal one changes the edge spin current by a value proportional to the particle current.     

Anomalous Hall effect in a two-dimensional electron gas with Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit interaction

We discuss the mechanism of the anomalous Hall effect in a Rashba-Dresselhaus two-dimensional electron gas subjected to a homogeneous out-of-plane magnetization. On the basis of a systematic treatment of the kinetic equations for the spin-density matrix, results are derived for the dynamic Hall conductivity in a closed form. Its nonanalytic dependence on both the scattering time and the frequency of the applied electric field is discussed. Except for in a special Rashba-Dresselhaus model, there is a finite intrinsic anomalous Hall effect, which is extremely sensitive to short-range elastic scattering.     

Bound states in a two-dimensional short range potential induced by the spin-orbit interaction

We have discovered an unexpected and surprising fact: a 2D axially symmetric short-range potential contains an infinite number of the levels of negative energy if one takes into account the spin-orbit (SO) interaction. For a shallow well (meU0R2/h2<1, where me is the effective mass and U0 and R are the depth and the radius of the well, respectively) and weak SO coupling (/alpha/meR/h<1, where alpha is the SO coupling constant) exactly one twofold degenerate bound state exists for each value of the half-integer moment j=m+1/2, and the corresponding binding energy Em extremely rapidly decreases with increasing m.